


It's the Cat's Fault

by exovelvetwriters



Category: EXO (Band), Red Velvet (K-pop Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternative Universe - Kingdom, Comedy, EXOVelvet, F/M, Romantic Comedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-04
Updated: 2021-01-04
Packaged: 2021-03-14 15:07:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,676
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28547616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/exovelvetwriters/pseuds/exovelvetwriters
Summary: Princess Yerim has met at least thirty suitors by now but none of them are to her liking. People say, it's her cat's fault.Genre: Comedy, Prompt: Kingdom
Relationships: Kim Yerim | Yeri & Kim Minseok | Xiumin, Kim Yerim | Yeri/Kim Minseok | Xiumin
Kudos: 10
Collections: EXOVelvetWritersFest 2.0





	It's the Cat's Fault

"Rim, I know you hate Halloween, but I swear you're gonna be alright. I'm right here with you," Sooyoung held her by the arm. Yerim rolled her eyes and looked around.

"And that's what makes me worried," she says, "that you're here with me." The crowd was not all that wild, a decent crowd that Yeri very much appreciates. But the costumes are wild. Music booms, there isn't a sign of proper etiquette that she is so used to at her home. And she definitely feels like an alien. Thank the lords, she lost the bet with her sisters and ended up wearing the bunny costume, it was not as tight-fitting as Sooyoung's and made her invisible in the midst of the glam jam.

So she sits in the corner with her face hidden in the dark. This party is for elite people, and they were acting the craziest this Halloween. She didn't feel like it. So she only watches her sisters from afar, wishing she can be like them one day. Care-free. 

"Uh...H-hi," someone taps on her shoulder. Yerim flinches at the contact and looks up at him. In the dim lights, she can see a very nervous looking vampire with a glimmering set of plastic teeth. He clears his throat and smiles. "Hi."

She wordlessly makes space for him on the couch. "Hi."

He sits, scrutinizing her troubled face. "Headache?"

She smiles, "Of a sort."

He sighs, thin lips curving into a smile. "Siblings?"

"...Yeah," she chuckled lowly before the silence between the two of them settled in. Yerim felt her phone buzz. Wishing it would be Seungwan calling to leave, she fishes it out of her pocket. And then her frown deepens at the name of someone she has a very  _ complicated _ relationship with. 

Marching out of the hall, she picks up with a shaky forefinger. "W-what is it?"

"Where are you?"

"Just...I don't owe you any explanation. Stop calling me," she ends up stuttering too, knees weak as she leans against a wall. Looking around, she realizes she is standing on a sidewalk.

"We're not done yet," he says, his voice cold and rough, "I'm not letting go of you."

"I'm not the lottery you think you hit," she reminds him, while cars pass her by, neon lights shine on her face, she quivers in a strange fear. 

"I still have those pictures."

"I-I was drunk--"

"Nevertheless," He cuts in, a smirk in his voice, "your people want drama on their newspapers. They'll love it."

"Sehun, you can't--"

"Listen, I can and I will," he is evidently having fun, "so tell your suitors that they can fuck off. You're getting married to me."

"You're crossing the line," she tries to sound strong, "I can have you punished by your government, you don't understand--"

"I run a mob, you think they can touch me?" He asks with a chuckle. "So baby, you will come to me if you want those pictures deleted. Of course, your suitors won't want a non-virgin wife now, would they?"

He cuts the call before she can speak. Clueless as to what to do, she finds tears on her cheeks. The princess breaks down on the quiet sidewalk, shoulders heaving with tears.

And a cat walks up to her. In this festive night, she is lonely and worried. But the cat touches her with its paw, gaining her attention. Yerim scratches behind its ear, and the cat leans closer to her warm body.

While the concern about the pictures eat her insides, she caresses the cat to find her comfort. The soft warm body curls against hers and she closes her eyes, basking in the affection from this stranger. She feels much at peace.

  
  
  


Minseok studies the interior, jittery hands all sweaty. The youngest princess, Princess Lily, leads him towards the quarters of her elder sister. And even though his brother believes Yerim likes dogs more, much like himself, Minseok hopes she'll like a cat too. It has been a hectic week, dealing with gang leaders and making Yerim's life slightly easier, even though she doesn't have a clue and Minseok is only waiting for her face to light up with recognition once she sees him. The vampire from the Halloween party, he wants her to say.

And with his all, he hopes, he'll be able to charm her in some way. He just likes her a lot. 

  
  


“This is truly an extraordinary feature...for a castle,” The prince comments, “An aquarium.” He glances at the tiny girl next to him, who gracefully walks alongside him. “Did you know that jellyfish have survived 600,000 years without a brain?”

The girl smiles, “That’s some ray of hope for my sisters then.”

“Doesn’t this path lead to the famous zoo instead of the Princess’s room?” He mumbles to himself, trying to remember the map of the castle he had seen for the first time that morning. He is to make a good impression, after all. And if this is a test, he wishes to pass it.

“Well, it does lead to some kind of a zoo,” There is a smirk in her tone.

Zoo, she says. Well, he isn't expecting anything less from the famous sisters.

  
  
  
  
  


“Oh, Seulgi,” Joohyun groans, “Why are your shoes muddy?”

“T-There was a puddle,” Seulgi curls up with fear at Joohyun’s narrowed brows. 

“Why did you step on it?” The older girl asks again.

“...because it was a puddle.”

“Oh Lord, save me,” Joohyun crosses her legs and groans at the childishness of her sister. “Go wash up! I can’t even have some tea with you all--you’re too busy with your little adventures---and oh god, why do these ducks have...what are these, Seulgi?”

Seulgi bites her lower lip, watching the ducklings waddle off in a line with their new plastic raincoats she made out of polythene bags, “They live outside...they need this, Joohyun.”

“And when will you grow up?”

“T-Tomorrow…? I’m free tomorrow?” Seulgi asks, unsure yet if Joohyun will like her answer. Seungwan cackles up at her words.

“Come sit here, sister,” she says, patting the chair next to her in the garden.

“If a duck and a chicken had a baby together…” Sooyoung starts, sipping on her green tea, watching the ducks walk away in the neat line, “The baby will be called chuck…?” 

“Or dick,” Seungwan added, and the biggest accomplishment was Irene bursting out in a big laugh. Yerim smiled at her eldest sister, turning the page of the newspaper in her hand. “Lily...where’s Lily?” And all of their eyes widen with panic at Seungwan’s sudden question. 

“Oh fuck,” Sooyoung leaves her tea on the table and looks around the garden. “Let’s not panic. Maybe she wanted us to have a quiet moment.”

“Quiet moment? You think she cares enough to leave us alone?” Joohyun can’t help the anxiety in her head. She stands up at the thought of her little sister planning some serious prank for the five of them. “She’s up to something.”

“Well, if I were you, I’d say--” Yerim takes a sip of her warm tea. Her face immediately scrunches up in a weird shape, “Ew, what kind of tea is this?”

Sooyoung chuckles, “I boiled gatorade for you.”

“Are you crazy?” Yerim’s eyes widen even more. The bad taste lingers in her mouth, like a wax coat. Out of pure revenge, she swings the cup of gatorade at her sister’s face. Sooyoung shrieks at the sudden splash, not like she hadn’t expected that. But Yerim gets the same treatment. Sooyoung’s green tea lands on her pale blue dress. Seungwan laughs at the two of them as they glare at each other. “Fuck you,” Yerim mutters under her breath.

“It was just an experiment but okay, fuck you too,” Sooyoung threatens back.

The silence is broken by Seungwan’s shrieking weird laugh, catching their murderous attention. Sooyoung takes Seungwan’s cup and throws the content at her face, having her scream now. 

“Oh my god,” Joohyun pinches the bridge of her nose, utterly disgusted and disappointed by her sisters but then Wendy grabs her tea and splashes it on her face too. Her red cheeks, angrier eyes only make her sisters laugh out louder. “You...you just...Goddamn it! I’m the eldest and most respected Princess in Dian and you dare--”

And this time, only to join her sisters in on the fun, Seulgi throws her own cup of tea at Joohyun’s face. And the sisters find it difficult to stop laughing. Their hairs tangle in the mess of the food they throw at each other, the cream of the pastry, the sprinkles of the cake, on their lashes, their beautiful gowns, their skin. Even Joohyun has no other option than to attack.

“No, no, no, my ducklings!” Seulgi yells, when she sees the line of the coming back around the pond. Sooyoung pushes Seungwan and the girl loses balance. Seulgi’s eyes widen, thinking she’ll land on the ducklings and out of pure motherly instincts, she pushes Seungwan in the pond first so that the ducklings can pass by safely.

Wendy lands in the shallow pond, still laughing. The sisters stare at the mess they’ve made of the garden and themselves. Covered in sweat, tea, pastry and mud, they look like they’ve had some serious battle that didn’t really emerge from boiled gatorade. But this is how they are, and this is how they always wish to remain.

They’ve only calmed down from their laughing fit when Lily treads into the garden. “Here you all are,” she says, “I see, tea was more chill than the last time?”

“Where were you?”

“Oh, I only have one job and that is escorting your suitors to you, Yerim,” Lily smirks, “And I present to you, the honorable Prince of the West Isles, Prince Kim Minseok.”

Yerim’s eyes meet with the Prince’s. And with her face covered with the strawberry cream and her hair sticky with the toffees Sooyoung had thrown at her, she just wants to say, “It’s not a good time at all.”

  
  
  
  
  
  


Yerim helps herself into the new dress, her face now all cleaned up and her hair free of the dirt. She leaves the buttons on her back to the maids and gathers her hair so that they can rest the emerald necklace on her collarbones. While her sisters camp in her room, their usual gossip rings in the air. Gloves on and the mini hat clipped into place on her hair, she checks herself in the mirror once again.

“Who were you talking to? Why weren’t you picking up?” Joohyun yells into her phone, most probably talking to her husband. “Pizza Hut? Who the hell is Pizza Hut and why are you talking to her?”

“It’s a pizza place, Joohyun,” Seungwan tries to calm her down.

Joohyun blinks at Seungwan’s words, processing them but Sooyoung butts in with a knowing smirk. “No, I’ve never heard of it, Joohyun. Is Yixing cheating on you?”

Taking her sister’s words into account, she gasps, “Hey, who were you talking to?!”

Yerim takes a deep breath, “Guys, I’m going now.”

But no one pays her any attention, too busy with the drama they’ve just started. She sighs and knocks on the doors. They’re opened to her and she sees the Prince pacing around. Her face reddens. Now, the Prince surely thinks she is a very ugly joke after watching her sprawled on the garden, covered with all kinds of desserts.

“Prince Minhyun,” she bows to him.

“It’s Minseok, Princess Yerim,” he kisses the back of her palm with a soft smile on his face.

“I’m so sorry,” she apologizes. “Um...about the scene in the garden today, I apologize once again. My sisters can be...quite the circus. And also for making you wait, I’m really sorry, Prince Minjung.”

“Minseok, Your Majesty,” he reminds her for the second time. Yerim bites on her lower lip. How to tell him that she is bad with names and faces without sounding utterly stupid? “And it’s alright, I don’t mind at all. I love a loud crowd.”

“Oh, they’re very much so,” She takes his extended arm and leads him further into the corridor. “I’m so sorry--what was your name, again?” 

“Minseok,” he patiently replied, “You must have had a tiring day. Is it a wrong time?”

“No, no, absolutely not,” she reassured him while they walked in between the wildlife her father had kept on either side of the corridor for her very own recreation. Too bad, she had no time for the fish in the tanks. “So, you may begin. Whatever your conditions are for marriage.”

Prince Minseok chuckles, “You’re all business, Princess.”

“There’s no time to waste,” Yerim remarks. The Prince glows in the blue hue that casts over the two of them because of the water sparkling above them. And he is handsome...only that she’ll soon forget his face. But his sharp eyes strikingly resemble a cat’s. “Land, money, horses, elephants, gold, shoot your price,” she says.

“Well, I’m sorry to break it to you, Princess, but you’ve gotten the idea of marriage mixed up with bargaining,” he says.

“Oh tell me then,” Yerim sighs, “Men are so shady about what they want, at least the ones I’ve met. If only you could be clearer instead of beating around the bush.”

Minseok chuckles, “There’s no price. I take you for you, regardless of your titles.”

“Tell me, Prince, you aren’t the youngest of your siblings so why the disthirst for the throne?”

“I came to marry you only because I like you, Yerim. Nothing diplomatic about it, no politics, no strategy...only pure admiration,” he pats her gloved hand in his hold and smiles, “I request you to spend the evening with me, if that’s not too much to ask for.”

Yerim quirks her brows with interest, “And what might we do?”

Minseok stops in his tracks and looks down at her. “Do you want to...fly?”

“Fly?”

“Yes, I’ve traveled to Dian on my own,” Minseok says, “You see, I’ve learned to fly my own jet so to not both my father about the traveling expenses.” Yerim beams with excitement in her eyes. “And truthfully, that is all the skill I have so I’m counting on Fury to win your heart.”

“Fury?”

“My jet, I mean.”

“It has a name. I’ll be honored, Prince Minjun,” Yerim says.

Minseok smiles, “It’s Minseok, Princess.”

“Minseok, right. I’m sorry.”

Little does Yerim know that she will remember his face and his name as clearly as day as she will that very experience of flying in the air. Prince Minseok, etched in her mind, lives rent-free. And Yerim smiles out of nowhere at the thought of him, her sisters think she has finally gone nuts. Their jokes roll in and out of her mind but Minseok doesn’t. She checks the list of suitors on her schedule, she is supposed to attend to them all, and get married to one for god’s sake, her mother’s words. While the suitors come and go, she only remembers one face, one name and that one moment that she was in the sky, flying.

  
  
  
  
  
  


“Seulgi is like a slinky,” Lily mumbles to herself, playing with the toy in her hand. The colorful slinky travels from her one palm to another and then to the floor.

“Slinky?” Yerim asks, “How so?”

“Almost useless, but makes you smile when you push her down the stairs.”

Yerim sighs, watching Lily walk away to the opposite side. She's always in some kind of threat with Lily around.

Yerim was only going to touch the frozen sausages in the fridge when her phone beeps with a message. She fishes the device out of the pocket of her skirt. 

Lightning struck, it says. Joohyun is still sticking with the code in their group chat. Yerim sighs at the text. Lightning struck is the code for I can’t find Seulgi. And she had to come across this text every time she came out to do some shopping with her sisters. 

You mean, lightning has struck? Sooyoung replies.

Damn it we don’t have time for your grammar classes.

Yeri sighs once again, before typing, did you call her?

I didn’t, Joohyun replies. Typical Joohyun, panics easily. Yerim tries Seulgi’s phone and the girl instantly picks up. Hoping to hear she is somewhere in the supermarket, Yerim asks, “Where are you?”

“Oh, I did some shopping. Now I’m going home. Why?”

The younger girl sighs out of frustration, “Seulgi, we literally came to the mall together.”

“W-What?” And the Seulgi gasps, suddenly reminded that she has left her sisters behind. “Wait right there. I’m coming to get you.”

“Oh, Seulgi,” Yerim whines before hanging up. She meets her sister at the exit after texting them about Seulgi's whereabouts. 

“Let’s take a walk outside?” Seungwan suggests, “When was the last time you walked in the city?” She says to Joohyun’s protesting body language. “We’ll be fine, you just keep Lily with you.”

“Fine, but only five minutes.” Joohyun finally agrees after a lot of convincing from the girls. “And no tiktok videos in the middle of the street, Sooyoung!”

“What? I can’t hear you!” The younger girl yells back and the rest laugh in unison. And that just means more tiktok videos, Joohyun only prays they don’t get run over by cars.

“Don’t you just sometimes wish that they get run over by a bus?” Lily says, out of the blue.

Joohyun’s eyes widen at the thought, “Just hold my hand and shut up.”

On the other side of the footpath, Yerim walks aimlessly. There is literally no aim in her life anymore. Just get married. Why? Because if she jams the line, what will happen to Sooyoung and Seungwan? Being the middle sister is tiring. Being the only sensible sister is tiring too. And she doesn’t see the end of her flaws either. How is she supposed to live with someone whose name and face she can’t remember? In the case of her sister’s, it’s different because she has been with them for so long. And their faces are the only ones in her head apart from her parents’ and her father’s council’s. 

And also Minseok’s, now that she thinks about it. 

But that is wishful thinking. He probably gave up on her when she asked for his name the fourth time. Out of her peripheral vision, she catches something furry and white disappear into the bushes on her side. Stray cat, she thinks. She feels it following her. Every time Yerim turns around, the cat halts and blinks up at her. 

“Uh, hi,” she says, awkwardly. “Don’t follow me, please.” 

And she is too stupid to think the cat understands her language. When she looks carefully the fifth time, she notices the belt around its neck. Xiumin, it says. “Stop right there, Xiumin,” she points at the sidewalk, “Don’t,” she makes a cross with her arms, “follow me. Don’t follow me.”

The cat only meows up at her. It walks closer to her and places one paw on her shoe. Yerim’s eyes soften at the little gesture. “I can’t take you home,” she says, “I just...can’t.”

Meow, it says. It rubs its white head against the back of her hand as she reaches out. “Oh...Xiumin,” she caressed its head.

And for the first time, she doesn’t give a damn about if a princess should have a cat. She takes Xiumin home.

  
  
  
  
  
  


“And there was a fountain of chocolate that they built only for me,” Prince Baekhyun, the third contender of the throne of Elyxia, holds out his hands to give her the idea of the size of the fountain he had drank his chocolate from at the recent gala in Lynn last week. Yerim patiently cuts her steak with the knife and puts on a tight smile for the jolly prince who is blabbering a little too much about his adventures with food. 

“You haven’t ever eaten salmon curry with mango, have you?” he asks, his voice loud and his laugh boisterous when she shook her head as an answer. “Of course, Dian is way too much in the north to taste fish.”

Yerim smiles, “We like to preserve them.”

“Oh, you mean in that huge ass aquarium in your corridor? Don’t you ever wonder if one day the glass breaks? This whole castle will drown.”

Her face tightens, “The engineers have done a very good job securing the glasses. I don’t think that should be one concern.” Baekhyun stuffs more meat into his mouth and chews noisily, nodding. “What we should be concerned about right now is our...potential marriage.”

“Right,” and he speaks with food in his mouth. Yerim forces herself to look away. “But, are you a more or less vegetarian nation?”

Here we go, food again.

“We have our own type of diets, Prince. Vegetable is a popular ingredient in everything we eat,” she scoops a portion of her peas and looks back up at the Prince, “Why does that matter?”

“Hmm...you see, Princess, I’m not really interested in getting married to a kingdom that eats grass everyday,” Baekhyun frowns, “But...since you’re beautiful, I want to help you out.”

“Sorry, what did you just say?” She narrows her brows at him. Baekhyun helps himself to another serving of steak and makes her wait while he bites on it.

“I asked for half-done,” he sighs at his piece of meat, “See? This is what I’m talking about. If my in-laws house can’t even serve me what I want to eat, what’s the point of getting married?”

“You don’t have to.”

“Hmm?”

Yerim lets her spoon clatter against the plate, “You’re only here because you wanted to be, Prince Baekhee.”

“Baekhyun,” he narrows his eyes at her, as if offended. 

Yerim shrugs, “If we’re done here, I’ll ask you to leave. It was a pleasure having you over."

“Wait, I’m not done here--”

Yerim stands up, letting her chair drag and make a noise that shuts him up. The doors burst open and Yerim smiles at Xiumin who has been waiting for her outside. “Come,” she summons the cat and picks him up in her arms.

“No, put that away!” Baekhyun sneezes as he says. “Away with it! I have an allergy!” He sneezes again and this time, his dirty snot splashes all over the dishes, making Yerim gasp with disgust. “The cat! Get it out!”

Yerim watches the Prince sneeze away uncontrollably. “Guards, please help the Prince to the infirmary,” she says. And that is the last time she sees Prince Baekhyun as he is supported out of the room by her guards, sneezing and cursing at her pet. Yerim watches the man go, the man who thought she is at his mercy. But she’ll never stoop that low and get married to a weirdo who is obsessed with food.

She caresses Xiumin in her arms and places a chaste kiss on his head. “Let’s go for a walk, Min.”

  
  
  
  
  


“Why, I think he’s hot,” Sooyoung says while scrolling through her instagram, most probably stalking Baekhyun. Yerim turns to her side on the bed, “You seriously turned this guy down.”

“Calm down, you’re only seeing pictures,” Seungwan reminds her younger sister while patting Yerim on the shoulder. “It’s fine, there are so many other fish in the sea.”

“Fish in the sea...yeah that guy likes to eat fish from the sea and got upset we use them for decoration instead,” Yerim sneered. “No way I am going to marry that guy.”

“Well, you gotta get married before you become a hag,” Lily says in her famous matter-of-fact voice. Yerim chucks a pillow at her but misses and hits a very dumbfounded Seulgi instead. Seulgi blinks at her before going back to the sweater she was making for Xiumin.

“Sorry,” Yerim groans when her spine aches as she lies on her back. Maybe she really has to be single all her life. That isn’t a concern for her of course. But the nation does want heirs and one of the king’s six daughters has to give them one. Irene is trying, she says, to get pregnant for two years now. Whereas Seulgi’s husband works in his kingdom’s navy so she lives here in Dian instead with her sisters. 

Xiumin curls up on her side and lays his head down on her stomach, watching her with such emotive eyes, Yerim almost thinks for a second that she knew this face. She traces the side of his face with her thumb. “Are you hungry?”

The cat closes his eyes and tilts his head to her palm. Yerim smiles, “You’re sleepy, aren’t you?” It was night now, and she wishes to have a good night’s rest before meeting the next suitor the next day. She pulled Xiumin closer to her chest and patted the cat’s head in rhythms, “Sleep here today.”

“Oh, dear skydaddy--”

“Stop calling God skydaddy, Sooyoung!”

“I wish to have a husband as handsome as this Baekhyun guy minus his obsession for food,” Sooyoung completes, ignoring Seungwan. “Look, when mom was pregnant with Lily, I asked skydaddy to give me a sister--and guess what? He listened to me.”

Seungwan frowns, “So you are the one who asked for Lily?”

“Well…” Sooyoung glances at Lily who is playing on her tablet now, “I do regret it now.”

“Well I hope you go to hell for making us go through this then,” Seungwan mutters under her breath, glancing at Lily. And after a long silence, she adds, “So I just need to call him skydaddy…?”

“Yeah,” Sooyoung shrugs.

“Alright then, skydaddy,” Wendy begins, making Yerim chuckle. She really listens to Sooyoung. “I hope Yerim gets married soon and clears the line for me.”

“Oh, me too,” Sooyoung closes her eyes to pray. Yerim watches her two sisters with her mouth open. Did they really just...make her feel like the thorn on their wedding aisle? Yerim feels a little sad now. Xiumin pats her arm, as if trying to comfort her. Yerim holds him closer, placing his head on the crook of her neck. He smells familiar, that she takes a second look at his face. It’s just a cat’s face. But so familiar.

“Good night, Xiumin," she says.

  
  
  
  


“Go. He’s waiting.” Irene says.

“I am…” Yerim drags her feet towards the door. Another day, another guy. Sometimes, she wonders maybe she’s into girls. Last day, she was walking in the zoo with a prince and to her utter shock, it turned out that he was wearing ronopas to make himself look as tall as her. With Xiumin distracting him, he landed in a puddle and fell face first. 

The other day, Xiumin successfully saved her from the boring conversations of soccer with the Prince of Jieva by spilling juice on his lap. When he scratched Prince Yuno's face when he pushed Yerim to the wall and tried to kiss her, when he made another prince leave early by farting in his face. She owes Xiumin a great lot. 

Xiumin destroyed countless dates of hers. Almost as if he doesn't want her to get married. So Yerim decides to take Xiumin along this time too. Her suitor is standing at the door, playing some game on his phone. 

After the initial introductions, Prince Junmyeon has chosen to take her out this evening to his very own hotel around here, to which Yerim has agreed. Xiumin clings to her arm, taking all her attention from the Prince sitting before her. 

“Pets…” Junmyeon sighs, “I wanted one too when I was younger.”

Yerim only smiles at him before going back to caressing Xiumin’s head with all the love and care. Junmyeon swallowed at the scene, “What is your hobby, princess?”

“I like...chatting with my sisters,” she answers. Junmyeon goes on ahead about his fencing matches. He likes to brag, she notes as she listens. All of a sudden, Xiumin hops out of her hold and limbs on top of Junmyeon. “I’m sorry--” she goes ahead to fetch him but Xiuming begins tugging at Junmyeon’s hair until it...falls off.

Junmyeon’s wig goes flying into someone else’s food. Xiumin returns to his cozy seat on Yerim’s lap while the restaurant holds its breath at the sight of the Prince’s shiny bald head. Turning red out of embarrassment, Junmyeon throws Xiumin a glare before stomping out of the room with rage. 

And Yerim can’t help but break out in laughter. Her dear dear cat has saved her once again. She kisses his head, "you've done it again," she says, "I love you so much, Xiumin."

The cat purrs, licking her cheek affectionately. Yerim takes him home and helps him bathe before they fall asleep together.

  
  
  


**_“So Much For A Princess Who Can’t Even Remember Names?”_ **

Yerim knew turning the page would be a mistake. A big colored picture of hers, taken from the worst angle possible, is on the front of the newspaper and the title painted her as the bad person the people are dying to make out of her. Yes she did mess up Junmyeon’s name a few times last day but...this is just him being a typical man. And she hates typical men. 

Her father stomps into the room, a copy of the news in his hand too. “This is absurd!”

“This is just a man’s doing, Dad. Calm down.” She says, calling Xiumin to her lap from under the table. “It’s only because I’ve seen his bald head."

"It's this cat, isn't it?" He yells at the innocent animal, "it's the cat's fault!"

"Call it what you want," Yerim shrugs.

"We're getting rid of this cat. Right now!"

Yerim protested against her father's words. "Xiumin is going nowhere! It's not his fault at all. You know what? All men do is lie and brag and I refuse to get married to the likes of them. Getting rid of my cat will do no good at all!'

"Well, it is your duty, Yerim," he tells her, having her roll her eyes at him. "You cannot afford to lose focus. So this cat goes out of the palace."

"No!"

"Yes!"

"You have no right to take Xiumin away from me!"

"And you were never allowed to keep him in the first place, Yerim."

And they take Xiumin away from her despite her thousand pleas. The list of her suitors had ended with Junmyeon. And then her name appeared in all the newspapers the next morning. The TV talks about it, the magazines talk about it. Kim Yerim is disabled, Kim Yerim is not fit to be Princess, Kim Yerim is autistic. And the list goes on. 

And she would've let everything slide if only Xiumin was with her on her side. She misses him terribly, but he's in the street without a clue of where to go. And that is what scares her the most, that they'll never see each other again.

  
  
  
  


"Prince Minseok is here to see you," the maid announces. Yerim nods lifelessly, send him in, she means.

Shoes click clack on the brick path. Yerim cranes her neck to see him through the vines of the garden. He is as handsome as ever, in his navy slacks and black coat. She greets him with a smile. "Princess Yerim," he kisses the back of her hand and stands before her.

"I have a very bold request to make," he informs her.

She nods, giving him the permission. "I'll ask you to marry me, Kim Yerim."

She only watches his unwavering eyes for a second. The determination is strong. But her doubts are even stronger. "Haven't you seen the news?"

"I decided to ignore it," he tells her. "After all, I've been with you through most of your suitors. And they weren't the man you deserve."

"W-what?"

Minseok opens her palm and places Xiumin's belt on it. The cold metal brings in life on her pale face, "What is this supposed to… is my Xiumin alright?"

"Oh I like the sound of it," he mumbled to himself. "Well, I am your Xiumin, as you put it."

"You're...the cat?"

"Precisely so…"

"No way--"

A magical sphere envelopes Minseok. Yerim watches with her mouth wide open. A human transforms into a cat. "Xiumin," she drops to her knees to touch her dear cat. But then the next second, the sparkling fog engulfs him again and in front of her, Minseok appears.

She gasps, her head spins. And she loses all consciousness at that moment. 

When she wakes up, Xiumin is lying on her lap. The cat swings his white tail back and forth in a caressing motion. Xiumin, unbeknownst to her consciousness, licks her skin as if he is kissing the spot. Yerim blushes at the contact, closing her eyes back. 

"I saw that," he says. She only smiles, regretting the decision to close her eyes. She wants to see him transform again.

Yerim touches his face to make sure he isn't a hoax. And a smile graces her lips at the genuineness of at all. "It's alright," she says, "will you take me to fly again?"

"Of course."

His face, tattooed in her brain, lives on forever. The kingdom watches their wedding live in their televisions. They move to a silent cottage in the north where they only have to remember each other's face and the faces of rabbits, squirrels and of their little ducklings. In every council meeting, Minseok curls up on his wife's lap and helps her recognize faces by writing on her arm with his claw underneath the table. And he truly takes her for her, not for her father's riches. So Yerim kisses him once again and asks, "Will you take me flying again."

"Yes, my love," he says.

And they fly to the moon and the Saturn, touching the horizons of their love.

**THE END**

**Author's Note:**

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